Idris Elba jokes in SAG monologue that he got 'kicked out' of De Niro's office

LOS ANGELES: English actor Idris Elba kicked off the 2024 Screen Actors Guild Awards with its traditional 'I Am an Actor' opening segment.

The segment features a few stars reminiscing about their career journey, reports ‘People’ magazine.

Michael Cera, Colman Domingo, Hannah Waddingham and Idris Elba were tapped to appear in this year's opener as the ceremony commemorated its 30th annual year.

As per ‘People’, on his part, Elba, 51, shared a hilarious anecdote featuring acting legend Robert De Niro. For his segment, the ‘Luther’ star joked about getting "kicked out" of De Niro's office years ago.

“When I was just starting out in this business, I was 19 years old. I scammed my way up to Robert De Niro's office in Tribeca (where) auditions were taking place for ‘A Bronx Tale’. And they started that week even though I was very late and wasn't even invited,” he said.

Elba continued, “I used my English charm to convince the security guard and the receptionist that I had an appointment. Now the woman sent me up into the elevator -- you remember when the elevators had a little key and you went in and went up?”

He added, “I psyched myself in the elevator, did my Robert De Niro impression I was like, ‘What are you going to do, when you are in there what are you gonna do? Idris, come here."

The actor concluded, “Anyway, enough of that. And that's when I ended up in ‘A Bronx Tale’. No, I'm lying now. I wasn't in ‘A Bronx Tale’. I got kicked out of the office by Robert De Niro's producing partner at the time, a gesture that I took to mean, kid, you're going to go places. I'm Idris Elba, and I'm an actor”.